Blog Formative Years

As always, I’ve been perusing our dear Internet for ideas on how to improve this place’s visibility and appeal. My findings were quite useful, probably because I’m such a noob that nearly anyone’s advice is more than I already know. Check out this neat quote I found:

“Blogs are often too internally focused and ignore key usability issues, making it hard for new readers to understand the site and trust the author.” -Jakob Nielsen

This is the summary of an article on the top ten weblog design mistakes. I’ll interact with several of those points here, but you can click the link if you want it ‘from the horse’s mouth’. As they say. Sounds kind of offensive to me. Some of the points, while valid, were ones I chose to ignore because I’m not running a professional blog. I have strong preferences too, and where better to exercise them than on my own website? But I do care about you too. How can I serve you?

The first mistake was a lack of author biography on many blogs. Which I’m guilty of. I’ve been meaning to update that, so I’ll do that now. I’m supposed to write something that will get you to trust me – my expertise and my sincerity. My natural instinct is to let the writing speak for itself, but I guess it makes sense that you would want to know more about where I’m coming from.

I’m going to take a rain check on the author photo, however (I don’t understand that idiom either, could someone who runs a blog explaining such things enlighten me? I’m too lazy to Google it. My, my). I prefer to let your imaginations roam freely, but I will start you off by disclosing that I have brown hair. Do I have a peg leg? Is my hair naturally brown or just dyed currently? Am I Asian? Indian? Hmm…stick around.

Apparently my titles are inadequate. They’re too cute and humorous (aw, thanks for saying I’m funny! See, what you don’t understand is that I’m practically a prostitute for humor permeation. An out-of-business prostitute, ugh). Titles should be far more informational, for they’re the most valuable words I type. People on average only read the first three or four words of a title, according to the article. And they don’t want to be messed with. I think I may politely decline on this point too, however. I like my titles. I’ll count on the tags to pull you guys in.

I haven’t done too much with links yet (although you’ll notice an increase already in this article), but because I plan to this next warning is also useful. I need to be clear about where my links lead. I like this line: “Life is too short to click on an unknown.” How true. And yet not…one could argue that life is too short to only click on what you know. Those “life is too short” arguments are typically fallen. But point taken. I think I’ve been doing a decent job; you’ll find on my title page that I explain the difference between clicking on the tabs at the top and clicking on the categories list to the right. I also detail how to subscribe to the RSS feed, because up until recently I myself did not know about this feature and its capabilities [ooh, actually I recently took the explanation down because I thought people could figure it out for themselves. 3/11/10]. Even now that I know about it and use it to keep up with the news (in theory), I’m terrible about checking it. I’m sure you’re more diligent, so to be added to your subscription list would truly be an honor.

Good reminder to keep my most popular posts accessible, so new readers can get the best first, and also to link to other posts from entries that reference them, so readers can get the whole picture. Obvious stuff, but like I said, I’m a noob. I’m also completely guilty as charged of “mixing topics”. But I did tell you in my disclaimer that I wouldn’t keep these linear. I will completely knowingly wander around a bit, or a lot. I want to, so like always, the desire will trump the logic. I hope you’re okay with that. If you ask nicely, I could write a really focused post on a topic of your choice.

Here’s a helpful hint for Mac users: When clicking on links, hold down the command key to open that link in a new tab so you don’t lose the original article. There’s no telling how long a simple ‘Back’ function will take. If you have a PC, I’m sure there’s some equivalent. I’m not a hater, I used Windows for eighteen years of my life. Yes, I was using a computer from the day I was born, yes.

Mixed topics are, at present, a characteristic of this blog. You get a little of everything. I have been told it makes the entries seem more ‘real’. You may think differently. Never fear, I plan to diversify. At least I’m not putting posts in numerous categories. I would not have thought that anyone would be guilty of that, but there wouldn’t be a warning if there weren’t the mistake, right?

Funny story: I was at the contract-signing for my new job (English teacher, detailed here) and as we were going through the contract, the staff member mentioned that every clause in the document is there because some past employee has attempted said activity. That’s hilarious, considering how comprehensive the contract was. For example, I’m required to wear a dark suit to work. “It doesn’t have to be black – it could be navy, or dark ash…we just ask that you don’t show up looking like a pimp.” Haha. I would’ve liked to see that. Maybe not a funny story? Okay. Mediocre recollection of an amusing occurrence.

I’m supposed to write like my future boss will read this. Or my future wife (that wasn’t in the article but I think it goes right along with boss and might be even more worthy of consideration). I understand that. But I take it with a grain of salt. The chances that either of them will ever view this is quite low at present. The chances that they’ll be offended is significantly lower. I tend to think I’m a naturally inoffensive guy, except to easily-offended people. But on the other hand, I can never know what someone will take issue with. I do have strong opinions. You can call me out if you want. We can talk.

And finally, having a domain name owned by someone else. Yes, WordPress. I’m alright with that. Sure, it screams newbie. I’m not doing this for a living; I don’t consider it worth paying any money for just yet. At least WordPress is better than Geocities. What the heck is a Geocity.

Those are the top ten weblog mistakes I found, as told by Mr. Nielsen. I’m sure there are many more I’m committing as we speak (merely an expression used here for endearment). Ah well. Live and learn. Live and earn.

Before when I was in the bathroom I had a great idea for a new wing I could add to this building. I’m really excited about it, so maybe it’ll already be started by the time you read this. I’m thinking about calling it ‘Introductions’ [a.k.a ‘Links’. 3/11/10].

Nice to meet you.

-Brad

Gaba and Gaijin

Amazing how much can change in so short a time. Last post I was plagued by a need for a job and no hopeful prospects. Now, I have a seemingly ideal job with contract signed and certification starting in three days. I’m going to be an English teacher at Gaba. They’re an English-teaching company in Japan that specializes in one-one-one lessons (“man-to-man”, as they call it, which of course sounds awful). I applied two months ago, and then again one month ago, and then again this month, because they put out a job posting on Gaijinpot.com every month (or maybe that’s just because they weren’t getting enough teachers – but if that were the case why didn’t they contact me sooner?). They were actually where I applied first this year, but after hearing nothing but a single rejection letter in two months, I had all but given up hope. I wasn’t going to apply in November, but I just happened to remember about the website after leaving in search of a Japanese job, and whaddaya know, I get the job this time.

I remember thinking as I applied for November that it would probably ironically work out this time, simply because I had come so far since my first time applying, in terms of courage to call (even Japanese) employers and do interviews, etc. Those were things worth learning, so I can’t be too mad that I didn’t get the job until now.

However, I’m definitely glad for it now. I was getting worried.

I felt so out of place at the first interview (information seminar, then brief cursory interview). There were probably eight of us, and though I probably looked fairly similar to the rest of the applicants, I felt so conspicuous. They all looked exactly like the stereotype of a Caucasian English teacher in Japan, mostly due to their formal dress. Like I said, I was dressed up too so I probably looked far less out of place than I felt. I think I was the youngest.

Another thing worth mentioning is that having grown up in Japan, I naturally assume that any foreigner I see on the street has less experience with the culture than me. So I avoid interaction with them, seeing as they will sooner or later do something extremely stupid and embarrassing and I will be associated with them because, to a Japanese, I look just like them. Funny, isn’t it? I’m a foreigner, and yet I’ve developed the same attitude towards them as the Japanese, that is, “He is a gaijin, he must be stupid and culturally inept. Must distance, must distance.” I only realized this a few years ago when I worked here with guy from America and he noted, “Foreigners here don’t associate with each other much, do they? They almost seem hostile.” Yeah. You are embarrassing me, go away, that’s what we think. Except in the case of this guy.

But now I willingly thrust myself into that environment and I’m going to stay in it because now they’re my colleagues. Ha. I don’t mind terribly. They’re interesting people. I’m just being forced to embrace my foreign self more than I’m used to doing when I’m here in Japan.

It’s quite an ideal job though. I submit when I’m willing to work each month and the clients sign up for times on the website. I can work as much or as little as I please. I hope there are a lot of students, because I want to earn a lot. I’m also going to be teaching kids. I was relieved to hear that that’s also one-on-one, because one kid is easier to manage than a group. I just hope I can keep him/her happy.

Most of the lessons are “blue-booked”, meaning that the client chooses the instructor based on prior experience or maybe just the profile and ten-second video on the website. I wonder how appealing mine is. It was quite awkward taking it, I hate those situations. It was funny to imagine weird videos though; for example the stereotypical American who came to Japan for the anime and maids and whatever else, and now finds that he still needs money to live on in his fantasy country. So he somehow manages to get a job with Gaba, and in his profile video belts out, “Konichiwa! My name is Bob Smith, I’m an otaku! I love Japan!!” And I imagine him doing the awesome Andy “I love Japan!!” face which involves him rolling his eyes back and…you know, better than me trying to explain it would be simply showing you. Here. Enjoy.

Like I said, he’s awesome. I don’t think he’ll mind me shooting him a little traffic, although maybe yes if I’m acquiring all sorts of creepy readers. Which I don’t think is the case, seeing as my daily view count is still in the single digits.

So now I have a job and will soon have a (presumably) stable source of income, but I’m still curious about making money with a blog. I figure it’s only a matter of time before word gets out about this, and then I’ll hardly know what to do with all the traffic. I hope you know me well enough by now to understand just how seriously I believe that sentence. If you don’t (because I’m not in the risk-taking mood right now), I believe it NOT AT ALL.

I was looking into putting ads on blogs, and I haven’t looked very far, but it seems to be very simple. I’ve also heard that you need at least a hundred views daily to start making money. Any thoughts on that? Yes, I know that I could just find a blog on that very topic, but I’m giving you a chance to speak up. Actually that’s wrong, you’ve had that chance ever since you stumbled onto this little waste pile of cognition. Now I’m giving you the invitation.

And everything is of course so much brighter now that I have a job coming. I can enjoy life. I can open my shutters and breathe in the sunlight. I can also get back to studying Japanese, because that test is closer than ever and I have so much left to study.

I have a lot of things I want to write to you about but it will have to wait because I’m still busy. I’ve worn a suit every day for the past three days – but I need to get used to it, because with Gaba’s dress code I’ll likely be wearing a suit six days a week from now on. I want to buy a suit rather than borrow my dad’s forever. I wonder if they have my size here, if it won’t be astronomically expensive, and if it will look cool.

Study time.

-Brad

Why I Worry While I Write (And Have Mixed Feelings About Alliteration)

My top three sources of consternation (or more accurately, the goals in my life that I worry about not accomplishing) at this time are:

1. Finding a job so I can earn enough money to go to university next year in September.
2. Studying enough for the Level 1 Japanese Language Proficiency Test on December 6 so I pass.
3. Gaining discipline so that whether I’m attending university, working long hours at a job, or facing massive white spaces in my schedule due to unemployment, I still use my time wisely.

That list might not be accurate. There may be a better hierarchy or other goals that fall higher or lower. The fact that I mixed concrete and abstract detracts from the list’s usefulness, but nevertheless, these are the things that occupy my mind. I’m taking a year off from college and I don’t want that to turn out to be a wasted time.

I thought it would be relatively easy to get a job as an English teacher in Japan. I speak Japanese, so surely any company would want find me an attractive prospect, right? I can relate to the students in their quest. Alas, that does not seem to be the case. I’m still confident I could relate to students, but I am not quite as attractive a prospect as I first thought. Nearly every large English-teaching company in Japan requires a college degree; in fact, the only company I’ve found that doesn’t is Gaba. I’ve applied to them three times (they put out a new job posting every month, and they have a school right close to where I live) and they finally took notice this time, but it’s been several days and they haven’t called. I should call them, to, as they said in the e-mail, “expedite the process”.

That seems to be the only English-teaching opportunity of that sort. I’ve also applied to several jukus as a tutor to help kids with their homework and study for exams. In that area, my attractiveness is again dulled by the fact that I can probably only teach English. While at an elementary level I could probably help with maths as well, the fact that I never went to Japanese school beyond kindergarten decreases my ability to converse in Japanese maths terms. I could always study those terms specifically, I suppose. I did pretty well in maths in high school; I don’t think the concepts would be a problem. But my strong suit would be tutoring English. There is a demand for this but I fear there is also a copious supply. When I was applying for English-teaching jobs through Gaijinpot I was one of literally hundreds hungrily snapping at any applicable opening that came along. It was a surprising and slightly overbearing discovery.

Ideally I want a job that requires or at least makes use of both Japanese and English. That’s what I can do and that’s what I will get paid more than the minimum for doing. I don’t want to take you through the whole tour of where I’ve applied to and what I’ve done, but I’ll just mention that I did apply to and even got two interviews at TGIF in Shibuya. Then it didn’t work out, for some reason. The Baseball Cafe near the Tokyo Dome is not hiring at present. Neither is Outback.

I’ve applied to a few hotel jobs, those haven’t come to anything yet. Nor has my abundant potential as a model. Those Shibuya scouts just aren’t taking notice. Ha. As if I could be a model. Oh, but the money…

I’ve made other applications and gotten suggestions and contacts from friends. I’m really hoping for something to break soon, because I’m going stir-crazy and I won’t be able to celebrate Christmas in good spirits if I still have the fact looming over me that my gap year is almost half over and I’m still not accomplishing its primary objective. At least I made money during the summer.

Enough about that (although if anyone actually does end up reading this, advice or even contacts would be much appreciated. Or donations, of course. That’d be swell – and yes, I do know that there’s absolutely no chance of that happening. There is a website – Kickstarter.com – that people can use to get funding for creative ideas. I probably couldn’t use that to get to university, though). What do you want to hear about? The Japanese test?

Basically, if I pass I’ll have a vastly higher chance of getting hired by a Japanese company, or get a higher salary because of my proven ability, but that’s more of a career course and I’m not looking for that at the moment. No, really my main reason for taking the test is improving my ability, gaining confidence, and amassing some bragging rights. I passed Level 2 two years ago, which is a formidable accomplishment but still only second-best. I can only be as good as a Level 1 failure. But if I pass Level 1, that shows I’m at least that good, right? And there’s no ceiling for how good I could potentially be. I’m not sure if this is making sense to you. I’m talking about how it looks on paper, on a resume, for example. If an employer reads that I passed Level 2, he/she will assume I’m between Levels 2 and 1 (which I would be). But if I’ve passed Level 1, there’s no telling how good I could be! (even if in reality I only barely managed to pass it).

But mostly I want to learn and prove to some people that I can do it.

As for discipline, well, that is a huge topic, isn’t it? Massive, and totally worth going into. However it’s so large that I hardly know where to begin, and I’m starting to feel like I should get back to the job search or studying (starting? I feel that way every minute I’m not doing one of those two things!). Ah, the life of an unemployed individual. You’d think it would be relaxing. It’s rather stressful. But I don’t want sympathy. If anything, give me a kick in the pants. I have to man up and make those phone calls until something comes through.

I’m enjoying this writing. Although I’m not sure about the whole others-finding-it-and-reading business. I tried searching for my own blog on Google and it didn’t show up. Right now my plan is to keep writing in hopes that with more quantity more attention will come, not that I’m looking for attention, just a murmur of response. From someone I don’t know, who thinks so similarly. Is that you?

Maybe I need to post more tags.

Oh, alliteration, yes. Most of my alliteration is unintentional, so for me it’s not so much the question, “Should I incorporate it as a poetic device?” as much as, “They’ll think I’m corny if I don’t replace some words in there, won’t they?” And the answer is yes. Yes, yes you do. Yes I do. And no I didn’t. I didn’t change the title, I left it. And I added this little paragraph just to make the title sensical, or rather, the parenthetical amendment to the title sensical, so that I could leave the title proper as is, because I was just that attached to it as soon as it popped out. My high school junior year English teacher would tell me that a ‘because’ should never have a comma preceding it, but I put it there because you were supposed to pause for the approximate length of a comma when you read that sentence. That’s how I would’ve said it were I speaking to you. Again, an improbable justification; you would’ve walked away by now.

Out.

-Brad